Good Dental Hygiene Habits – Your Kids Will Thank You For Them In Later Life

Brush, Brush, Brush your teeth.

We recently visited the Dentist for our 6 monthly check-up.

The usual response I hear from other parents when I mention this is:

“That must be a nightmare with triplets!”

Honestly, no, it really isn’t a nightmare.

From an early age we have encouraged the Trio to brush their teeth and we always talk about how pleased the Dentist will be that they are looking after their teeth.

When the visit to the Dentist comes around we treat it like an adventure and everyone is genuinely excited to go and show the Dentist how clean their teeth are.

What’s happening in that room?

It’s Dani making Mouthguards.

It’s a bit noisy!

No it’s really noisy!!

The finished product.

Loki in the chair

Mikey in the chair

Alita in the chair

Just like every other aspect of our children’s health, by creating good Dental hygiene habits now, we are ensuring that our kids not only have strong healthy teeth as they grow up, but that they will also continue to look after those teeth when we as parents no longer have so much influence over their choices.

During our recent visit to the Dentist I asked Dani Radnedge (Dental nurse, founder of Teeth Hygenix and occasional tooth fairy) if it would be OK to ask her a few questions that I had gathered from a group of Multiple-birth parents about children’s dental health.

Dani has been qualified as a Dental nurse for over 18 years and is the Founder of Teeth Hygienx delivering you the best floss and toothbrushes in the industry for a reasonable cost as well as one of the biggest range of dental novelties in Australia.
If you are in Queensland -on the Sunshine coast, Gold Coast or in Brisbane – she can also arrange a visit from “Flossie the Tooth Fairy” for your event, which would be another great way to encourage kids to get excited about Dental health.

Here is what she had to say:

Q: At what age should our children start visiting the Dentist?

A: I believe in introducing children to the dentist as young as 1. If they have a few teeth then it’s really about getting them used to the surroundings and the weird stuff dentists wear.

Q: What does the Dentist look for during these early visits?

A: We examine the brushing techniques, early childhood decay, abnormalities.

Q: When and how should we start brushing our babies teeth?

A: I believe as soon they come through. The angel teether is great for teething and for when the tooth pops through the gums. There are soft little filaments that help clean the teeth whilst the baby is using it as a teether to soothe their gums.

Q: How often and for how long should we be brushing our Toddlers teeth?

A: Everyone should brush for 2 minutes.

Q: If I can only manage to brush once a day is it better to brush in the morning or evening?

A: At night time. But make sure you do a thorough job.

Q: What foods are good for our Kids teeth and what should we be avoiding?

A: Avoid anything high in sugar or acids. I feel that gummies and chips are hard to remove from the deep grooves of teeth. Apples and Cheese can be beneficial but you still need to make sure that you remember to brush twice a day.

Q: What is your favourite “Kids Dental Health book”?

A: Oh I have a few. I love Dora goes to the dentist.

Q: What is your favourite “Kids Dental Health Product/toy”?

A: Brushing bear. He is so fun yet educational as well.

Q: What advice would you give to parents who are struggling to get their toddlers into a good teeth cleaning routine?

A: Just do it! The more they scream the bigger they open the better job you can do. It’s not easy but if you distract them with teddy or a timer, whilst your doing it, that might help.

Q: How likely are premature babies to be affected with weak enamel due to being born early?

A: It depends on the duration of the pregnancy really, the main problems that your dentist would watch for are:

Abnormal formation of enamel (white outer covering of tooth)

Slow teething – especially of the first baby teeth, however as the child gets older they will catch up to the normal teething pattern.

High arch or groove to the palate (roof of the mouth)

An abnormal bite called Cross-bite.

Q: Do you have any tips to stop Toddlers from Sucking their thumbs?

A: yes there are thumb/ finger sucking devices that can help. You can find the one that I prefer in my online store here

Thats some great advice from Dani, and no excuses now, we all need to make sure we’re looking after those tiny teeth.

Before you go, here’s some fantastic news for all my readers: Dani has agreed to offer you all a 5% discount if you quote the words “Triplets in Paradise” in the subject line when you place an e-mail order from her online store teethhygienx.com

Happy brushing everyone!

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Comments

Oh what a great post and a timely reminder that I need to book an appointment for my little man. I keep putting it off because I’m scared he’ll play up, but I need to take responsibility for his beautiful little teeth. The more he goes to the dentist the more he’ll get used to it. I might also look into getting a couple of books about brushing teeth and visiting the dentist so that we can read them together at night and normalise the whole process. Thank you!

Thanks Rachel,
I hope your little man has a fun first visit to the Dentist. If you can treat it more like an adventure rather than a chore he is much more likely to enjoy it. Also, it’s worth calling the Dentist beforehand to talk to them about what they can do to make the experience more fun for him.